“How did it come to this?”
King Baldred Roselant lost his temper.
“That’s my line! You damn fool!”
With everyone except the steward and the royal knights cleared out, Baldred let his true self show. In truth, before Dagan became his subordinate, the two had been childhood friends—and close companions for forty years.
The two were in Baldred’s private office discussing how to handle the fallout of last night’s banquet. Yet, for some time now, all Dagan had received were nothing but harsh insults.
“It’s all your fault for coming up with that stupid plan in the first place. What are you going to do about it? Your son, I mean!”
“Shut up! You damn fool! If you had just followed our plan, none of this would have happened!”
Indeed, there was a hidden agenda behind that episode at last night’s banquet—a scheme dubbed, “At That Moment the Magician Made His Move ─── Hero, I Offer You My Daughter.”
In short, the plan was to pair up Dagan’s companion, the magician Zareed, with Stella Lilis. The two middle-aged men behind it wanted to support a young couple who, even if separated during the journey to defeat the Demon King, would remain passionately connected. However, although Zareed was an excellent magician, he was of low status and rather timid by nature. If he were immediately designated as the princess’s husband, a backlash was inevitable. They had intended to insert a buffer.
“You were supposed to say, ‘I am far too old, and for the magically talented Princess Stella Lilis there is someone far more fitting than me,’ and then introduce Zareed by touting his achievements. He was meant to be given a noble title and designated as her betrothed!”
To add insult—and to make sure all his subordinates knew it—Baldred had planned to announce, “Hero Dagan is such an important vassal that he is worthy of marrying my daughter. Understand this: if anyone dares to lay a hand on or insult him, you’ll know just what will happen!” Baldred couldn’t help but think, “I’m a genius!”
As for Dagan, he had long been dissatisfied with the whole plan.
“Zareed has grown up, too. I figured that if I said the right words, he might even propose to Princess Stella Lilis on his own.”
Besides, Dagan had wanted to avoid involving women altogether. Not that he was homophobic—he simply had little interest in women. He had no intention of fathering children and tended to vent his lust through battle. The noble ladies who swarmed around him at the moment of his triumph were nothing but annoying nuisances and untrustworthy.
In that respect, Lunarsion was different. From the very first encounter, he had admired Dagan without fear—but that did not mean he was in love with him.
Dagan now recalled every detail of the banquet’s events—the entire chain of events that led him to this very marriage.
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“I’ll happily marry you! Do as you please!”
Lunarsion gripped Dagan’s hand and declared.
“Wha—what are you saying, Lunarsion?”
Dagan was at a loss, while Lunarsion blushed and smiled.
“I love you.”
“Huh? Y-you love me? There’s no way! Don’t talk nonsense!”
Dagan’s furious shout echoed throughout the hall. Several people were so overcome that they fainted, yet Lunarsion—his eyes brimming only with joy—did not let go of Dagan’s hand.
Dagan’s anger subsided as Lunarsion clung to him, his eyes shining with deep adoration—a testament to the many hardships he had endured, which assured him there was not a trace of deceit.
Lunarsion loved Dagan.
The very moment this truth was acknowledged, Dagan’s heart pounded.
The world grew noticeably brighter, and it felt as if a mysterious song began to play. It went something like this:
─── The hero looked to the sky. The battle was over. Behold! The accursed black clouds had vanished, and the blue sky celebrated victory. ───
(Blue sky… could Lunarsion’s eyes be so beautiful? Clearer than a winter sky and more radiant than a summer lake.)
Dagan was quite the romantic, a sentiment that only grew with the steadily rising volume of the song and Lunarsion’s earnestness.
“Please, do not deny these feelings. I have waited for you all this time… Dagan, I love you.”
Weakly forming his words, Lunarsion said this to Dagan.
In that moment, an especially powerful song resounded.
─── The hero set out on his journey home—to the beloved ones waiting in his homeland. ───
Dagan embraced a figure much smaller than his own. Though slender and delicate compared to Dagan, it was the body of a youth well-trained. In Dagan’s mind, he recalled a younger Lunarsion who had adored him.
“You have grown splendidly, Lunarsion. It is evident you have not neglected your training.”
“Didn’t Dagan say so? It might be that I remain poor at swordsmanship and horsemanship, but training is never wasted—especially for my sake… Oh, forgive me; how disrespectful of me to you, Hero…”
“Not at all. This is the Lunarsion I know. I am delighted… Thank you for waiting.”
─── Oh, the long-awaited lover, the very symbol of pure love—your time for reward has come. The hero set out on his journey home. ───
A resounding song filled the hall, enveloping the two who embraced… and at that moment, Dagan came to his senses.
“Damn…!”
It wasn’t a hallucination—it was real. Things were not supposed to go on like this. But it was too late. The atmosphere in the hall had completely transformed. Nearly everyone apart from the hero’s party was moved to tears, exalting Dagan and Lunarsion in chorus. Even those who had once despised Dagan were now saying things like, “What a beautiful tale…”, “We were foolish… so noble”, “Such true love… I wonder if a new volume might still be in time,” and so on.
It was the song—”Holy Love Song: Ender Ear.” Anyone who listened to it found their heart cleansed and uplifted. Before Dagan could stop it, the singer of “Holy Love Song: Ender Ear” ceased the song and began to speak:
“What an earnest love this is. I am deeply moved.”
The beautiful woman with pink hair and deep rose-colored eyes declared this in a solemn tone, a dazzling smile upon her face.
“In the name of Saint Gloriosa Crosslight, I hereby recognize and bless the marriage of Hero Dagan and Third Prince Lunarsion Roselant.”
In this country, a marriage is established the moment the church—esteemed above all for its reverence for love and justice—deems a couple to have already forged, or capable of forging, true love. In that church, the saint wields authority surpassing even that of the pope. In other words, the moment Gloriosa acknowledged and blessed them, Dagan and Lunarsion officially became a husband-husband couple.
Author: Yohan O
A bit of this, a bit of that, a bit of everything except straight
